Information is accurate as of September 2025
Edit 9/17/2025: Amova (prev. Nikko AM) launched the accumulating class for Straits Times Index ETF
Edit 1/10/2025: Vanguard lowered TER of some funds
This is a compilation of funds that I think are worth exploring further/considering adding to your portfolio. They are sorted by different “types” which refers to the role they play in your portfolio. If there are funds I missed out that you think are good to consider, please reach out to me!
Terms and notes
- Stocks will refer to market-cap weighted index funds
- Bonds will refer to bond funds, i.e. a basket of bonds instead of individual bonds
- Long term: 20+ year average maturity
- Intermediate term: 5-10 year average maturity
- Short term: <5 year average maturity
- Total market: government + corporate bonds
- Treasuries will refer to government issued bonds (may be US/non-US)
- TIPS refer to treasury inflation-protected securities
- Principal amount (amount you invested) increases with inflation
- DM refers to developed markets: countries with more economic stability and mature capital markets
- EM refers to emerging markets: countries that are not yet classified as developed markets, but might be in the process of doing so
- *Different indices have different definitions of DM and EM
- Global refers to Developed markets + Emerging markets
- Home country refers to your own country—for me this is Singapore
- Ticker refers to a unique grouping of letters that identify a fund, e.g. VWRA
- TER refers to the total expense ratio of a fund. Essentially how much it costs per year to own the fund
- Weighted TER is the TER of your entire portfolio. Calculate this by:
(% allocated to asset A x TER of asset A) + (% allocated to asset B x TER of asset B) + …
- Weighted TER is the TER of your entire portfolio. Calculate this by:
- TD refers to tracking difference, the gap between performance of a fund to its index
- Note that the data for this is not consistent (sometimes 5 year, 3 year periods), my data is at best a rough estimate. Doublecheck somewhere like here
- No data/not tracking an index will result in a blank
- Ex-US means excluding US
All funds listed are accumulating, i.e. reinvests dividends, unless otherwise stated. If it is distributing, it means I have not found an accumulating fund. If you find an accumulating alternative do let me know.
By default all funds are in USD unless otherwise stated. ETFs use physical replication unless otherwise stated.
Note that I might not use the real fund name sometimes to hopefully be more consistent and informative. E.g. SPDR MSCI All Country World Investable Market UCITS ETF will be shortened to SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI because it tracks the MSCI ACWI IMI index.
The list is obviously not exhaustive the ETF universe is crazy big. These are just some reasonable options. The information provided is not all you should look at either, e.g. consider bid-ask spread.
Please do you own due diligence. Read up on the factsheets/KIID/prospectus before buying anything. Make sure you understand what you buy.
Stocks
Global stocks
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI | IMID | 0.05% | 0.17% | 99% of investable market MSCI includes Peru, excludes Iceland and Romania |
| Vanguard FTSE All-World | VWRA | 0.02% | 0.19% | 90% of investable market FTSE includes Iceland and Romania, excludes Peru |
| SPDR MSCI ACWI | ACWD | 0.16% | 0.12% | 85% of investable market |
| iShares MSCI ACWI | ISAC | 0.17% | 0.20% | 85% of investable market |
| SPDR MSCI ACWI (USD Hedged) | SPP2 | 0.17% | 85% of investable market On German exchange. USD Hedged | |
| Amundi Prime All Country | WEBQ | 0.07% | 85% of investable market Relatively new index (Solactive). On German exchange. Solactive excludes Iceland, Romania, and Peru |
My preference: IMID
DM stocks
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPDR MSCI World | SWRD | 0.14% | 0.12% | 85% of investable market MSCI excludes Korea and Poland |
| Amundi MSCI World | MWRU | 0.12% | 85% of investable market | |
| Vanguard FTSE Developed World | VHVE | 0.12% | 0.12% | ~90% of investable market FTSE includes Korea and Poland |
| Franklin FTSE Developed World | DWLD | 0.09% | ~90% of investable market holding less stocks than Vanguard for some reason | |
| Amundi Prime Global | F50B | 0.05% | 85% of investable market Relatively new index (Solactive). On German exchange. Solactive excludes Korea, includes Poland |
My preference: VHVE
EM stocks
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iShares MSCI EM IMI | EIMI | 0.05% | 0.18% | 99% of investable market MSCI includes Korea, Poland, and Peru; excludes Iceland and Romania |
| Vanguard FTSE EM | VFEA | 0.42% | 0.17% | ~90% of investable market FTSE includes Iceland and Romania, excludes Korea, Poland, and Peru |
| iShares MSCI EM | IEMA | 0.35% | 0.18% | 85% of investable market |
| SPDR MSCI EM | EMRD | 0.21% | 0.18% | 85% of investable market |
| Amundi MSCI EM | AEME | 0.18% | 85% of investable market |
My preference: EIMI
US stocks
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard S&P 500 | VUAA | 0.07% | 80% of investable market | |
| iShares S&P 500 | CSPX | 0.07% | 80% of investable market | |
| SPDR S&P 500 | SPYL | 0.03% | 80% of investable market On German exchange | |
| Invesco MSCI USA | MXUS | 0.05% | 85% of investable market | |
| iShares MSCI USA | CSUS | 0.07% | 85% of investable market | |
| Amundi MSCI USA | WEBL | 0.03% | 85% of investable market On German exchange |
My preference: MXUS
I don’t recommend 100% US portfolio (for non-US investor). Useful if you want to control US proportion to the rest of the world.
Ex-US stocks
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amundi MSCI World ex US | WEXU | 0.15% | 85% of investable market MSCI excludes Korea and Poland | |
| iShares MSCI World ex US | XUSE | 0.15% | 85% of investable market | |
| Xtrackers MSCI World ex US | EXUS | 0.15% | 85% of investable market | |
| Vanguard FTSE “Developed”* Europe | VWCG | 0.10% | Europe only includes EM Europe stocks | |
| Vanguard FTSE Developed Asia Pacific ex Japan | VAPU | 0.15% | ex Japan for some reason FTSE includes Korea |
My preference: Maybe XUSE just for brand name? MSCI funds are too young and look identical.
If you did Developed Europe + APAC ex Japan, you will miss out: Israel, Japan, and non-Europe EM. No idea why “Developed Europe” includes European countries that are in FTSE Emerging markets. This means if you add in (normal) EM afterwards you will overweight the Europe EM stocks. Save the headache and just buy MSCI World ex US if you want ex US.
Singapore stocks (on SGX)
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amova STI | G3B | 0.15% | 0.25% | ~75% of investable market Distributing. SGD |
| Amova STI | GAB | 0.25% | ~75% Accumulating class! | |
| SPDR STI | ES3 | 0.26% | 0.28% | ~75% of investable market Distributing. SGD |
My preference: GAB
Non-index/Active/Factors/Others
| Type | Fund | Ticker | TER | Index? | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global 60/40 leveraged | WisdomTree Global Efficient Core | NTSG | 0.25% | Y | 90% Global stocks and 60% Global treasury futures Like a leveraged 60/40 portfolio |
| Global non-market cap | Invesco FTSE RAFI All World 3000 | PSRW | 0.39% | Y | Only fund that tracks the RAFI index Aims to break link between price and allocation |
| DM multi-factor | Dimensional Core Global Equity SGD | 0.26% | N | Not sure if I can buy this as a retail investor Mutual fund | |
| DM multi-factor | Dimensional Core Global Equity III SGD | 0.33% | N | Not sure if I can buy this as a retail investor Mutual fund Doesn’t use forward foreign currency contracts; might be a compliance thing. Should have more factor tilts? | |
| DM multi-factor | JPMorgan Global Equity Multi-factor | JPGL | 0.19% | Y | Risk-parity style weighting(?) Some tilt towards value/profitability/investment |
| DM multi-factor | iShares STOXX World Equity Multi-factor | IFSW | 0.30% | Y | Apparently value/momentum/quality/size Looks like a closet index |
| DM | Avantis Global Equity | AVGC | 0.22% | N | Slight profitability/value tilt |
| DM value | SPDR MSCI World Value | WVAL | 0.25% | Y | Developed markets value tilt |
| DM value | iShares MSCI World Enhanced Value | IWVL | 0.25% | Y | Slightly different methodology to WVAL |
| DM mom | iShares MSCI World Momentum | IWMO | 0.25% | Y | Looks like a closet index. May counteract value tilts. |
| DM min vol | iShares MSCI World Minimum Volatility | MVOL | 0.30% | Y | |
| DM quality | iShares Edge MSCI World Quality | IWQU | 0.25% | Y | Quality ~= Profitability (I think, or very similar) |
| DM SCV | Avantis Global Small Cap Value | AVGS | 0.39% | N | Small cap value with profitability tilt |
| US SCV | SPDR MSCI USA Small Cap Value | USSC | 0.30% | Y | Multiple value metrics |
| Europe SCV | SPDR MSCI Europe Small Cap Value | ZPRX | 0.30% | Y | In EUR. On German exchange. |
| EM multi-factor | Franklin EM multi-factor | FREM | 0.30% | Y | Quality, value, momentum, and volatility |
| EM value | iShares MSCI EM Value | EMVL | 0.40% | Y | |
| EM min vol | iShares MSCI EM Minimum Volatility | EMMV | 0.40% | Y | |
| EM non-market cap | Invesco FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets | PEHHz | 0.49% | Y | RAFI Index Aims to break link between price and allocation |
| EM | Avantis Emerging Markets | AVEM | 0.35% | N | Slight profitability/value tilt. |
My preference:
- For DM: JPGL/AVGC
- For SCV: AVGS
- For EM: AVEM. FREM for harder factor tilts
- RAFI Indices are an interesting alternative to typical factor tilts (similar conceptual underpinnings, with an added conviction that breaking price links with allocation prevents overweighting expensive stocks and underweighting cheap stocks). Note that factor tilts tend to be lighter compared to other pure factor funds; essentially it tries to get an extra “rebalancing premium”.
- I don’t like the available momentum funds. Similar thoughts (but not too sure) about quality/low volatility.
- If I could, I would probably just buy a Dimensional fund and chill
Most funds that don’t track an index still use a replicable method/algorithm, but have their own screens. You will also notice that many indices are literally just built around a strategy the fund wanted to launch. The distinction between index/non-index fund is kind of useless at this point.
Small note 16/9/2025:
Quality is not a well defined term. Profitability is defined by gross profits-to-assets. But quality is an umbrella term for “better firms” which may be measured using a fund’s own signals.
Low volatility can have different measures, not sure which are best. Anyhow the underperformance of high-vol to low-vol stocks can be explained by high-vol being small unprofitable expensive companies. Excluding them, either through a low-vol strategy, or through a value-profitability tilt can make sense. Not sure if you are getting anything special from targeting low-vol which you cannot get from profitability and investment. But also, not sure if targeting low-vol directly is better from an implementation perspective.
Targeting size (small caps) on their own doesn’t have much of a premium. But combining it with other factor loadings amplifies their effects. Possibly just due to there being a wider spectrum of stocks in the smaller caps, so for instance, targeting for cheaper ones there has better results.
Bonds
Global bonds
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond | VAGU | 0.08% | Intermediate term total bond market Some adjustments to Chinese bonds? USD Hedged | |
| iShares Global Aggregate Bond | AGGU | 0.10% | Intermediate term total bond market USD Hedged | |
| SPDR Global Aggregate Bond | GLAD | 0.17% | 0.10% | Intermediate term total bond market USD Hedged |
My preference: AGGU is fine
DM bonds
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Global Government Bond | VGGU | 0.10% | Intermediate term treasuries USD Hedged | |
| iShares Global Government Bond | IGLA | 0.20% | Intermediate term treasuries Unhedged | |
| iShares Global AAA-AA Government Bond | GAAA | 0.20% | Intermediate term treasuries Unhedged | |
| iShares Global Inflation-linked Government Bond | IGIL | 0.20% | Intermediate term TIPS Unhedged |
My preference: VGGU
US Bonds
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iShares Treasury Bond 0-1 Year | IB01 | 0.07% | Ultrashort term treasuries | |
| Vanguard Treasury Bond 0-1 Year | VDST | 0.05% | Ultrashort treasuries | |
| iShares Treasury Bond 1-3 Year | IBTA | 0.07% | Short term treasuries | |
| iShares Treasury Bond 3-7 Year | CBU7 | 0.07% | Intermediate term treasuries | |
| Vanguard Treasury Bond | VDTA | 0.05% | Intermediate term treasuries | |
| iShares Treasury Bond 7-10 Year | CBU0 | 0.07% | Intermediate term treasuries | |
| SPDR Treasury Bond 7-10 Year | TRSX | 0.15% | Intermediate term treasuries | |
| iShares TIPS | IDTP | 0.10% | Intermediate term TIPS | |
| SPDR US TIPS | TIPS | 0.17% | Intermediate term TIPS | |
| iShares Treasury Bond 20+ Year | DTLA | 0.07% | Long term treasuries |
My preference: DTLA for long term investor, else go to Developed/Global bonds instead. TIPS also seem good.
Other bonds
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iShares Ultrashort Bond | ERNA | 0.09% | Ultrashort corporate bonds | |
| JPMorgan Ultrashort Bond | JPSA | 0.18% | Ultrashort corporate bonds | |
| iShares iBonds December 2027 | IT27 | 0.10% | US treasuries. 2027 maturity | |
| iShares iBonds 2028 Corp Bonds | D28A | 0.12% | Corporate bonds. 2028 maturity | |
| iShares iBonds December 2029 | IT29 | 0.10% | US treasuries. 2029 maturity | |
| iShares iBonds 2030 Corp Bonds | ID30 | 0.12% | Corporate bonds. 2030 maturity | |
| Vanguard Corporate Bond | VDPA | 0.07% | Intermediate term global corporate bonds | |
| Nikko AM Singapore Bond Index | A35 | 0.25% | Intermediate term treasuries SGD |
My preference: A35 for SGD denominated bonds. Might consider ERNA. The fixed maturity bonds for specific saving goals also sounds good. For those bonds just look up iShares iBonds series or Invesco BulletShares series.
Alternatives/Diversifiers/Spice
(WIP)
Note 9/23/2025: Probably will update some thoughts here periodically. Here’s the first: Stuff in this section are all not necessary but a small allocation for some extra spice is fine. Standard index or even lightly tilted factors can be boring, and some people want to invest in fun stuff because of FOMO/hedging/other unique circumstances (e.g. your income is super closely tied to financial markets). My general rule of thumb for funds in this section, is to not go past 20-40% allocation in total, and not more than 10%-15% in any one fund. Even more important to do your own due diligence here.
| Fund | Ticker | TD | TER | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPDR Gold Shares | O87 | 0.40% | On SGX denominated in SGD | |
| iShares Physical Gold | IGLN | 0.12% | Denominated in USD | |
| iShares Diversified Commodity Swap | ICOM | 0.19% | ||
| UBS CMCI Commodity Carry | UEQC | 0.34% | 2.5x leverage long CMCI, short BCOM | |
| WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity Carry | CRRY | 0.40% | ||
| WisdomTree Broad Commodities | PCOM | 0.19% | ||
| WisdomTree Blockchain | WBLK | 0.45% | Aims for exposure to companies working on blockchain technologies | |
| Franklin AI, Metaverse and Blockchain | METE | 0.30% | Companies involved in AI, Metaverse, and Blockchain | |
| iShares Blockchain Technology | BLKC | 0.50% | Blockchain/Crypto companies | |
| Bitwise Bitcoin | BITB | 0.20% | Pay someone to hold bitcoin for you; you still own it (NYSE, not LSE) | |
| iMGP DBi Managed Futures | DBMF | 0.75% | Domiciled in Luxembourg (30% Div withholding tax) | |
| Man Alternative Style Risk Premia “D” | 1.93% | Minimum 1k USD Mutual fund |
References
Many funds were brought to my attention because of the Rational Reminder Community. Many were also screened here and here. For TD I mostly used this. More specific index/fund information was retrieved through factsheets or other documents.
Phoxchp 